The Berlinale: A film festival experience like no other.

If there is one film festival that I love going to, it is the Berlinale. Yes, Berlin is absolutely freezing in the winter, but it is also incredibly cozy. There is a je ne sais quoi about Berlin that I frequently try and fail to put my finger on. First off, it is incredibly less expensive than most other European cities. This means that you can live a bit of a high life for a few days while there. The films I saw, including The Lost City of Z and Viceroy's House, were of course among the best in the world. The film market, was also buzzing with people from all over the world who want to buy the world's best films. And, of course, the parties at night are unlike any other. From the BFI to various Polish parties I attended, a few days in Berlin is just as good as going to a warm, sunny place.

As IndieWire writes, "As ever, the annual fest is playing home to dozens of feature films and short offerings, with picks aplenty from both modern masters and fresh faces. The Berlinale often breeds some of indie film’s most unexpected and unique standouts, so if it’s at the fest, it’s likely worth a look."

My favorite documentary at the festival was For Ahkeem, about an African-American girl growing up in St. Louis. Shot over many years, the film highlights many of the struggles of growing up in America. The Berlin Film Journal writes, "For Ahkeem follows Daje Shelton, a young seventeen-year-old girl who is struggling to find her way in a social environment enriched by a feeling of cultural failure and the constant struggle that accompanies the process of dreaming for a better life. At the beginning of the film Daje makes a statement: “People been labelling me a bad kid all my life. You don’t have to really do nothing, people just expect it. So you start to expect it yourself.”

It continues, "By claiming this, Daje sets the tone for the documentary, making the audience aware that her story is unique but also part of a bigger picture of what being young and left behind means. The film begins at the moment Daje gets expelled from school and sent to a court-supervised high school, which is her last opportunity to graduate and get her degree. It’s painful to witness fight -or-flight survival mode Daje can’t seem to escape, however by following her in a conscientious, intimate way, the documentary makes an important point about the cultural trauma of what it means to grow up in a world where it is very likely that you will be shot before you reach adulthood."